Channel identifying system



March 2,Y 1948.' A. G. RICHARDSON ET AL 2,435,827

i CHANNEL IDENTIFYING SYSTEM Filed March 9, 1946 JESSE S. f GRA/v0 BY Patented Mar. '2, 1948 .2.43am `annulant. SYSTEM Avery AG. Richardson, ,Boontom-.andiMiIton Dishal and Jessey.. Le Grand, Nimoy, N- Jg, assignors @to Federal `Tuolumneausl .Radio Corporation New York, N. Y., a corporation ofDelaware Application Marchi), 1946,- Serial No. A653,266

more, some of lthe heretoforefproposed .systems are either too complex .or undependable and ,inaccurate in .their frequency identification.

Anobject of the .present invention Iis `the prow Vision of an improved Vchannel .identification system. Another .object -is the .provision .of .a ohalml identification system which isirelatiyely V:simple in operation and construction. .i

Another object of :the :present `invention gis the provision of a .channel identification .Sytem which the frequency f'identioations are positiye' onthe screen of aoathoderaytube.4 Such a spiral.

trace -may be .produced by. a combination of [voltages Atending to produce `a circular `trace y.With

energy Ahaving a sloping pulse dorm', such Jas `for exanipiaa saw tooth pulsor Va pulse of trapezoidal Wave fqrmthe-top o f Whichissloping. In

order -to produce a spiral vsvveep that starts Aat the same ,point ueach time it is repeated. it Vis essen` tial to maintain aeoura'e '.synqhronsnl between the .voltages tendine to Errjoduoe. and theslopihg ,pulsos Whi trace into a spiral trace.

Accordingly; [another Chienti of rvthe A present Afllvennen l`is the .-provisionlof timproved means or produoinea-sniral trauawluenmeans areiohafa terized by the accurate synchr l oroular trace yuliaees andthe i trace `is begunat substantially the same point each time it. .is repeated. @ther and inrther. objects of the present yention will. heeome apparent :and the `.ulvention 5.,. will @be Joost. understood from the following description .of .embodiments thereof, reference be.- i-nahad to. zine. .drawings which:

Fie- :11 is a b1 .ok andschematio diagram of a neauenoy ne reoeyerinoludine a channell identioation .system embodying the present iu.- vention; .ansi

.rf-ig. .2 is. a blools .diagram of. .a modiloaton of part the syste .as shown fin-.Fig- 1 ring now. Fig.. lftnefrequeney scanningtnere illus ated. may be of .a $1196.17-, i. dine .antenna l. radio freeuenoylamnlinor .huser Brano local `osollator @eine into LF ,ampliuer `5, diode deteotor io-.anlnliner .1 .and autilization devioosuou 6 I asa sound reprouuoer To p11-.ovine .for requauoy soauuus ooudensers.

for .ample '11. :the aulo frequency amplier mf er z3 aud1-ooa1 0.59.11. tor 4. maybe oouu'uluouslyv rotated uy of a Continuously rotating motors.. The .motore voor-roseon.dinely tunes #lie oondensers .in unicaen-M1194 Slo as to frequency' .t ely wideband such as, for aiarnp1a225 .to 4.0.0. fuiesaoyolos.-

in Vacco relatrice with@l teature of .the present inyention, the .channel inentioation system in# cludes a Acathode ray .tulpe on VVwhose screen .a spiral'traoe isrroduced in synchronism with the ffreguency .scanning of `the receiver, and the sig.- nala nhioh are reoeived ill-given frequency chaunels cause erlebt-spots offlieh to 'appear 'along hefsp' al trace, asshownin Fig. 1or' cause slightv indentations of -the.trac`e, as .indicated in Fig. 2. In Vdealing -with ,spiral traces, it is a matter qi dfi: ouliy 'o obtaiesyriohfouism between the initi lou of the trace .and development thereof?. and someother operation, such Vfor example, as frequency scanning. Inaccordance with a feature of Athe present invention, this difliculty i# overcome by Enlroyiding -fposi'tive means for Goor.` duaiing fthe anual trace 'with the Scanning This isacconiplished-inthe following manner.

The motorf also rotates .adisc [50', which may be-.Of 1.1191731, fibel. 01 ,any Q'Qhel material ',fhoV diss lo lis provided `ai .its Perimeter Awith .spaced teetnand is further provided Withla curved slot llfgvlvliichzcoversraradial vangli-new lal to the radial angle ofv the rotor plates of .the scanning con,- fieusers.. .forexamola .the pivotal center of 551 tne belasialso ilulluenter of euryatureoi teethll which-may baldi* example, .simple eea? curved slot I 2. In the embodiment illustrated, the slot I2 is of equal width throughout its curved length or it may be of increasing or decreasing width so as to produce directly a trapezoidal shaped Voltage wave. Light from source I3 is directed by any lens system or any other suitable means, such as a. collimating' slit I4, through the teeth II of disc I to a photoelectric tube I5. Likewise light from a source I6 is di-I rected by another collimating slit I'I through the slot I2 to the photoelectric tube I8. As the disc I0 rotates, the teeth II interrupt the light to the photoelectric tube I5, and thereby produce a sine wave (approximately) or vsquare wave output therefrom. Likewise, as disc I0 rotates, light-y asiatici mainder of the rotational cycle of disc' I0 and the various tuning condensers, the trace remains at the center ofthe screen. The motor 9 may rotate at a relatively slow speed such as for exfrom source I6 will pass through slot I2 during A the working angle of the scanningzcondenser (80 t in the example considered) and cause a rectangular voltage wave in photoelectric tube I8;

The output of photoelectric tube I is then fed to a sine wave ampliferand filter I9 to produce a sine wave whose frequency is determined by the rate of rotation of disc I0 and the number and spacing of the teeth'I I. This sine wave output is then fed to a phase splitter 20. The output of phase splitter would, if applied directly to the. deflection plates of cathode ray tube 2l, produce acircular trace. However, since it is desired to produce a spiral instead of a circular trace, it is necessary to-modify or modulate this split phase output of phase splitter 20. The modulating energy is derived from photoelectric tube I8, the output of which is fed to a. limiter and shaper 22, which serves to sharpen the sides of the rectangular wave output of the photoelectric tube I8, and by means of an RC circuit to produce a trapezoidal wave form 23, having a downwardly sloping top 24. These trapezoidal pulses 23 are used to modulate the two phase outputs of phase splitter 20 in balanced modulators and push pull amplifiers 25 and 26 respectfully. Each output of the phase splitter 20 is fed in push pull to the input of the balanced modulator while the trapezoidal pulses 23 are fed in parallel thereto. The trapezoid 23 thusmodulatesthe sine Wave output of the phasey splitter 20 so that the resultant trace produced in cathode ray tube 2I when the output of the balanced modulators and push pull amplifiers 25 and 26 are applied to the deflection plates is a spiral trace 2'I, with the spiral start` ing 'on the outside due to the tail leading edge of pulse 23 and gradually approaching toward the center of the screen due vto the downwardly slanting top 24. As it was stated heretofore, the'- angle that slot I2 makes for the balanced scanning condenser of this example is 80 of the total circumference of the disc I0. The pulse produced as a result thereof has substantially 8%60 of the total duration of the complete cycle of rotation of disc I0. Therefore, the spiral will,

be produced only for 80 of each cycle with the beam being at the center of the screen for the remainder thereof. Since the phase splitter sine,

spacesl therebetween in the same sector as slotl I2,`

there will be 9 turns. y The condensersin the radio frequency-ampli,- er 2, mixer 3 and 'local' oscillator'4 may be-of thev ample, 900 to 1800 R. P. M. The lower limit of speed of rotation of said motor is in part de-r trmined by the light persistence of the screen of cathode ray tube 2I.

' To indicate what frequencies are being picked up, the output of diode detector 6 is fed through an amplifier and limiter 28, to the intensity control electrode 29 of cathode ray tube 2 I. As the signal energy comes in, it is fed through the amplier and limiter 28 so that the output thereof is in the form of pulses, which pulses brighten up the cathode ray tube 2I during the brief interval of time during which the receiver is tuned to the particularvfrequency of any channel. Thus, the spiral trace V21 on the screen of the cathode ray tube has a plurality of bright spots 30 produced thereon, each spot indicating the particular frequency at which energy is being received. By providing a suitably calibrated spiral scale, which may be inthe form of a transparent disc arranged across the face of the screen, the bright spots can be instantly read against the calibration to determine at what frequency energy is being received. In another method, instead of bright spots, the trace is temporarily deflected inwardly at the points corresponding to given frequencies at which energy is being received. This is illustrated in Fig. 2.

Referring now to Fig. 2, in which the same numerals as in Fig, 1, have been applied to similar devices performing similar functions, the output of sine wave amplifier I9 is fed to phase splitter 20 as in Fig. 1, and the split phase output of phase splitter 20 is fedin push pull to the balanced modulators and amplifiers 25 and 26 respectively. However, the output of limiter and shaper 22, which consists of the trapezoidal pulses 23 is not fed directly in parallelto the balanced modulators and amplifiers 25 and 26, but instead is fed to a coupler 3|, to which is also fed the signal output of diode de tector 6. The signal outputof diode detector 6 in coupler 3I, is added to the trapezoidal pulses 23 to produce dips along the slanting top 24 of pulses 23 at places therealong corresponding to the frequency channel at which signals are picked up. The output of coupler 3I is then fed in parallel to the balanced modulators and push Apull amplifiers 25 and 26, whose output is then fed to the deflection plates of cathode ray tube 2I. The intensity control electrode 29 of cathode ray tube 2| is in this embodiment controlled by a constant voltage source to produce a constant light output. The spiral trace 21 in this method is characterized by little indentations 32 pointing inwardly toward the center of the cathode ray tube, each point corresponding to the frequency 'at which signals are being received, or corresponding -to the channels of incoming signals. i i f' -VWhile wehave described various details of our invention inone embodiment and modifications Lthereof, it' will tapparent ithat .numerous *changes :may dce .gna-de liin these idetails Pwithout departing rffrom the .teachings 'of :our L,-irmention. For example, zthersine waves for producing Vthe voltages ftencling ato :cause .ia Vcircular `ftrace .may

`-be ulirectly:obtainedifromsthe irotatipn of .disc lll without the intervention of a phase .splitter `by .displacing :two "photoelectric -tubesiabout theIl circumference i 'of the @disc so .that :the .energy apro,-

duced iin the phetoelectr-ictubes :is .190 .out V'of phase. Eurthermore, A-while .We shave shown .a Vdisc having openings @therein for ithe .control of lit'he:lighrbetweenthelight sources fandathe photo- `:electric tubes, it :will abe l.apparent that-other `means-:suchas for .examplara @rotatable member havingf'retlectors ormirrorsrthereon may bei used fior :this purpose. other changes -Afwill likewise occur to thosewersed in-the art. f

naccordingly, awhile ':we 'L'have f'described -fabove thei-principlesfof-our inventionI-'i'n-connection `with specic apparatus, `and Kparticular modications thereof, liti-is :to tbe-clearly vunderstood that this description'isfnlia'ele onlylbyfway of example and not asallimitati'on on -thesscope of our invention as set forth in the objects of our invention and the accompanying claims.

We claim:

1. A cathode ray tube having a screen and beam deiiecting means; and means producing a spiral trace on said screen comprising light-emitting means, a rst and second photoelectric means, a member mounted for cyclic motion adapted to periodically direct light from the light-emitting means to said first and second photoelectric means, means coupled to said beam deflecting means and controlled by said first photoelectric means for producing voltages tending to form a circular trace on said` screen, and means controlled by said second photoelectric means for modulating said voltages to produce a spiral trace.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said member is rotatably mounted, and further including a motor mechanically coupled to said member for rotating it.

3. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said member is in the form of a rotatable disc having a plurality of openings therein through which the light is adaptedto pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said first and second photoelectric means and further including a motor coupled to said disc for rotating it.

4. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said member is in the form of a disc having a plurality of openings therein through which the light is adapted to pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said first photoelectric means, said disc further having a slot therein through which light is adapted to pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said second photoelectric means, and a motor coupled to said disc for rotating it.

5. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said member is in the form of a disc having a plurality` of openings therein through which light is adapted to pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said i'lrst photoelectric means, said disc further having a curved slot therein with the rotational pivot of said disc at the center of curvature of said slot, and a motor coupled to said disc for rotating it.

6. The combination according to claim 1, wherein the means controlled by said first photoelectric means includes means for producing two sine waves 90 out of phase with each other, and

i6 imeans fior o annlvingrsaid sine tvrageseto thenenecf tion electrodes of said cathode ray tube.

7..'.The Combinaloll .arding to zlaim 1, wherein-said .means zcpntrclled shy:said.;r`irst :photoelectric means :includes :means for producing ,two sine .wavesfeout nfrphase iwitheach-other, .means :for v.applying .said-sine zwayes to Vthe de Sflection felectrodes of :said :cathode ray stubs, fand :said meanspentrolled bysaid:phetoelectrimeans .includes means @for producing .a :sloping cpo.- -tentia1, and ,means .fior applying said slopngpo.- .ltential to modulate :saidsine waves.

:iL-The combination according to .claim il, wherein vsaid means cgntrolled byisaid :rst zpho.-

toelectric means includes means for producing .sine Waves in -fresponseito the i.outputpf-fsaid .photoelectric mea'nS., at,9.0 .phase splittercoupleditp :the outputof the :aforesaid means, .a 1pair .of balanced .modulators, the :separate ,outputs of said phase splitter being y.applied jin push.' pull ;to ,separate ones voft/said pair .of modulations, saidimeans controlledbyJsaidfsecond photoelectricfmeansiin.- vcludng .gmeans f for prodncing :pulses `.of islopng potential means tior :applying said pulsesin allel to said modulators.

9. A frequency scanning receiver including means for receiving and detecting signal energy, frequency tuning means and a motor for continuously driving said frequency tuning means; and a channel indication system for indicating the frequencies of incoming signals picked up by said receiver comprising a cathode ray tube having a screen and beam deflecting means; and means producing a spiral trace on said screen comprising light-emitting means, a iirst and second photoelectric means, a member mounted for cyclic motion adapted to periodically direct light from the light-emitting means to said first and second photoelectric means, means coupling said motor to drive said member, means coupled to said beam deilecting means and controlled by said rst photoelectric means for producing voltages tending to form a circular trace on said screen, means controlled by said second photoelectric means for modulating said voltages to produce a spiral trace, and means coupling said receiver to said tube for producing indications on said spiral trace at points corresponding to the frequencies of the incoming signals.

10. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said member is rotatably mounted.

11. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said member is in the form of a. rotatable disc having a plurality of openings therein through which the light is adapted to pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said first and second photoelectric means.

12. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said member is in the form of a disc having a plurality of openings therein through which the light is adapted to pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said first photoelectric means, said disc further having a slot therein through which light isl adapted to pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said second photoelectric means.

13. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said member is i'n the form of a disc having a plurality of openings therein through which light is adapted to pass as the disc rotates to impinge on said rst photoelectric means, said disc further having a curved slot therein with the rotational pivot of said disc at the center of curvature of said slot, said slot comprising a sector of the disc equal to more than one o! said openings.

14. The combination according to claimA 9, wherein the means controlled by said rst photoelectrc means includes means vfor producing two sine waves 90 out of phase with each other.

15. The combination according. to claim 9, wherein said means controlled by said rst photoelectric means includes means for producing two sine waves 90 out of phase with each other, means for applying said sine waves to the deilection electrodes of said cathode ray tube, and said means controlled by said photoelectric means includes means for producing a. sloping potential.

16. The combination according to .claim 9, wherein said means controlled by said rst photoelectric means includes means for producing sine waves in response to the outputvof said photoelectric means, a 90 phase splitter coupled to the output of the aforesaid means, a pair of lbalanced modulators, the separate outputs of said phase splitter being applied in push pull to separate ones of said pair of modulators.

17. The combinationacco'rding to claim 9, wherein saidmeans coupling said receiver to said cathode ray tube includes means for coupling the output of detector to the intensity con trolled electrode of said cathode ray tube to vary the intensity of the beam in response to incoming signals.

18. 'Ihe combination according to claim 9, wherein said means controlled by said first photoelectric means includes means for producing sine wave'voltages tending to produce a circular trace, means for applying said sine wave voltages to said cathode ray tube, and said means controlled by said photoelectric means includes means for producing" asloping potential, and means for applying said sloping potential to modulate said sine wave voltages, and said means coupling the receiver to the cathode ray tube includes means for combining said sloping potentials with the response due to incoming signals.

-AVERY G. RICHARDSON.

MILTON DISHAL JESSE s. LE GRAND. 

